As Sarah McLachlan reflects on her time in the ASPCA ad, she is reminiscing.
In an interview with Rolling Stone that was published on Thursday, June 26, the three-time Grammy winner reminisced on the poignant ASPCA commercial that she performed in. The advertisement utilized her song “Angel,” which was released in 1997.
McLachlan, who is 57 years old, said that she has a wide variety of admirers who are 25 years old, while the tear-jerker of an advertisement introduced her to “a whole world of fans who are 80 or older.” “The late-night television thing,” she said and explained.
“A friend of mine who was serving on the board of directors for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals asked me, ‘Hey, would you be interested in doing this commercial? We have never done anything like this before with a famous person or a well-known person. As McLachlan said, “I love animals, and we thought it might be a cool thing to do, so I did it.” This is how the task came to be offered to McLachlan.
She concluded by saying: “And in a year, it raised $30 million or something like that.”
It was difficult for her to witness, despite the fact that it was a huge success in terms of providing financial support to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In spite of this, she said, “But the music and the visuals… it’s painful.” “I was unable to watch it…” It felt as if someone had said, “Oh, God is so terrible.”
“But it worked like a hot damn,” McLachlan said with a little smirk.
It is possible that many people will remember that the advertisement has a compilation of animal footage that are put to the wistful song. “To be an angel for a helpless animal” and make a monthly gift is what McLachlan invites viewers to do in this video. The emotive advertisement is unforgettable because of the imagery and the melody, which pull at the viewers’ emotions.
In addition, the Canadian singer-songwriter said that the advertisement did not accurately portray her as a “super-happy, super-optimistic person.”
“That gave the impression that I was a placid and depressed person with all of my puppies and kittens,” she said. “I will never forget the director saying, ‘I just need a little more [makes a sad face] from you,'” McLachlan said. “I will never forget that.”
In 2023, many years later, she was able to wink at the commercial with additional advertisements, the most notable of which was a commercial for Busch Light that aired during the Super Bowl.
“When I got the opportunity to take the piss out of it, with the Audi commercial and the Super Bowl [Busch Light] commercial, that was just gleeful for me,” she said in her conclusion.
Better Broken is the title of McLachlan’s recently released album, which is her first new album in nine years. Making the track was described by her as “such a joyful process.” She began the tour in 2024, which was the 30th anniversary tour for her album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, which was released in 1993.
“Since 2016, I have not been on tour,” she said. Before embarking on her journey across North America in 2023, she shared her thoughts with PEOPLE. “I thought, it was a really important record for me, and I just thought it would be really fun to get up there and play the whole thing,” she said.